The Tea Bag Said It: Capricorn, Libra and Relationships Misunderstood

I’m writing about Pluto in Libra tonight, settled in for a cozy astro-inspired night at home. I remembered that a friend gave me a few tea bags of what is certainly the finest, most wonderful, greatest and otherwise superlativest tea ever created. It’s made by this company that has inspirational messages printed on the bag tags.

You know the one. They’re always pithy notes aimed at gently opening your eyes to a higher level of love and light. Or bringing you back to your already very elevated consciousness after a stressful commute full of screaming at all the ignorant people who shouldn’t be allowed to drive but inexplicably apparently are. Or reinforcing your entrenched self-definition as someone who trafficks in a Cali-style, new agey pithiness that your Midwestern relatives are continually stunned by, telling each other when you’re not around that you probably joined a cult.

I’m usually down with what the tea bags have to say to me. The messages tend support my chosen self-definition, and I even sometimes share with others what the tea bag told me if it was particularly poignant or Cali-licous.

The message tonight: Live for each other.

Can you blame me for running over to trusty Computor to get my reaction down on virtual paper?

I’ve been sitting here teasing out the blind spots and unchecked assumptions of Libra, and the criticism that Capricorn can offer if Libra will listen. Libra makes the other its business, and Capricorn makes building the structures needed to care for people en masse its business.

Each sign’s energy defines itself in terms of what it can do or how much can get done for the other, yet the criticism of Libra from Capricorn has to do with the reality of working hard toward something concrete, and not just remaining focused on a person and the (to-Capricorn) petty concerns of defining the self in terms of interpersonal human relationships.

But living for each other?

No, tea bag, no! Living for each other is how we malfunction. That’s how we get away from being able to offer each other our best, from being able truly to share life in the superlativest ways.

People, don’t listen to the tea bag. Don’t live for each other. Live for yourself. Get yourself to the point where being with others becomes a celebration, and honors your life and their lives and your choice to experience them with each other.

I can’t yet advocate never listening to any tea bag, but you need to root it out and slam the door in its face if it sneaks into your life. And let’s all just be a little critical when tea bags offer easy means to deludedly derail ourselves from our path of compassionate awareness, or whatever other Cali-licious path you might be on.

Tom is available for private intuitive astrology consultations. See his website for more info.

February 29, 2008 By Tom Jacobs

Transit Lab: Jupiter Conjunct IC

I heard a rumor a few days ago that my favorite product at my favorite grocery store might be discontinued soon.

Over the following day or so I realized that I deeply desired to fill my entire freezer full of this particular product. I don’t usually have spurts of irrational desires, but I was amused. I decided to go with it, just to see what would happen. I mean, I just knew that I’d be happy if I did this.

A friend just pointed out that it’s Jupiter conjunct IC - stocking up at home. And it’s in Capricorn - my freezer as a site of abundance.

I’m also revisiting family memories and my relationship with my heritage, past life memories, and mourning the loss of my father and the evaporation of a significant relationship. And then there are friendships that have ended.

The point of this transit I’m seeing as clearing out, or at least processing, old things. Whatever stuff I’ve kept around in my foundation (4th house) that’s really just debris needs to go.

While Jupiter certainly presents opportunities for growth & expansion, outmoded things have to be cleared away in order for new growth to occur - for there to be room for new things to take shape and, ultimately, root.

So, don’t expect every Jupiter transit to be carefree. But understand that some things will need to go before you can even recognize the great opportunities that Jupiter can bring.

Since my friend pointed out the link between my freezer-filling urge and this transit, I’ve decided to just fill the whole thing, instead of this couple of bags at a time. To just go for it, which is what Jupiter asks us to do when making the rounds in our charts.

 (I admit that I’m just hoping there’s more to this transit than a full freezer…)

Tom is available for intuitive karmic astrology readings. See his website for more information.

February 24, 2008 By Tom Jacobs

Astrology on Internet TV

This Friday, from 11 AM PST to noon, I’ll be a guest on The Naked Salon, part of a panel discussing astrology. I like their approach of stripping away everything to get to the core of an issue (hence the naked part - so, I’m really saying, yes, I’ll be wearing pants the entire time).

There’ll be three astrologers on the show, each discussing how we use astrology and what we hope to achieve with clients by using it. I’m excited to share my thoughts of astrology as a symbolic language, which is stripping it down to its bare essentials (and is one key to learning the language so it’s useful, by the way).

You can see the show live at http://www.gotwebtv.com/TheNakedSalon/.

If you have something you’d like to ask the panel, feel free to call in. The number is (818) 991 - 6137.

Tom is available for spirit-guided astrology consultations. See his site for more info and to book a session.

February 6, 2008 By Tom Jacobs

Pluto in Capricorn: Discovering Assumptions

Capricorn is the sign of structures and the glue that holds social and political groups together. 

I’m listening to political reporting on the radio more than ever these days. What struck me today is the assumptions of some random citizens interviewed for some piece about some of the candidates. From their statements, these are the questions that some of us might not be asking themselves:

Does Hillary Clinton’s gender mean that she would bring heart & compassion to the office?

Does Barak Obama’s skin color mean that he would look out for minorities?

Does John McCain’s military history mean that he would work to defend this country?

Any general assumptions that we may have about what the members of any group would do because of their identification with it need to be reviewed.

The focus on the collective that Capricorn represents naturally calls up questions about the realities of the individuals making up that collective, as deeply entering any of the archetypes will naturally call up its axis partner, the opposing sign. Membership is more of an issue for the sign of Cancer (belongingness), but as Pluto begins its trek through Capricorn, assumptions about the structure of any group - and the realities of the people associated with it - might come up. 

Or, perhaps, should.

February 2, 2008 By Tom Jacobs